MORGAN COUNTY
The Madison City Council voted 4-1 to deny a proposal that would have annexed a parcel of land between Indian Creek Road and Monticello Highway during the city’s regular meeting on Nov. 13. Ed Latham was the only dissenting vote.
The denial of the annexation also meant that an accompanying proposal to rezone the parcel from Morgan County’s Light Industrial District designation to Madison’s Light Industrial Manufacturing designation became a moot issue.
A conditional use permit necessary to allow the development to involve manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, or industrial development was taken off the table by property owner Mike Conrads, and the public hearing on annexation began.
But Conrads still wanted to proceed with the annexation on behalf of those purchasing the property “We want annexation,” Conrads said. “We know our taxes are going to go up. That’s part of it. Yes, there will be services provided by the city and hopefully, the city will gain by the sale of utilities to whatever comes to this property. The intent is we want a good project that will benefit the community and provide jobs for people.”
Conrads said most of the city’s tax revenue comes from residential property taxes but urged the city to pursue a more balanced tax base.
Opposition to the annexation was strong, however.
Karen Massey, a Madison resident, said she opposed the annexation due to the ambiguous nature of the development proposal, a sentiment heard frequently during the hearing and the discussion that followed.
“Why annex with no guarantee of what you’re going to get,” Massey said.
Celia Murray, another Madison resident and an active participant in city affairs, said Conrads is a friend and that he did a lot of wonderful work locally, but she disagreed with him on this issue.
“The city shouldn’t buy a pig in a poke,” Murray said.
She also called into question a traffic study commissioned by the developer that estimated 3,800 vehicle trips per day in the area.
She acknowledged that most of the traffic would be trucks exiting the interstate and getting right back on it but expressed concern that trucks headed to Monroe would travel directly through downtown Madison.
“That volume of traffic is going to lead to accidents,” Murray said.
She also criticized ambiguities in the proposal.
“What’s the cargo going to be? Do we want to run the risk of having some kind of hazardous materials being trucked through town?” Murray asked.
George West, a resident of Monticello Road, pointed to the 667 tractor-trailer parking places indicated on one of the site plans as a red flag.
“This will make current warehouses in this county look small time,” West said. “It’s a bad idea and not in the best interest of Madison or Morgan County.”
Following the public hearing, District 2 Councilman Eric Joyce made a motion to deny the annexation request.
“We have a community here that has developed at a very measured pace,” Joyce said. “Our industrial sector of Pennington, Mannington, JDR, and Rema Tip-Top fit within the community.”
Joyce said there are 950 employee parking spaces in the original plan with buildings totaling 2.4 million square feet, the equivalent of five Walmarts.
“I just think this is almost madness to accept into the city a project this big and not know more about what it’s going to mean for all of us who have been paying taxes and enjoying the quality of life we have,” Joyce said. “I think it’s risky and almost foolhardy.”
City Manager John Klimm said he couldn’t support the proposal.
“Annexation when used properly can benefit the community,” Klimm said. “It can be a benefit in providing more tax dollars and can offer greater control over the quality of the development. [Annexation] can also be used [by a city] to protect itself from development. Annexation should not be used unless there is a clear net benefit to the community.”
Klimm said in this case city leaders can’t know if the proposed development will benefit the city because they don’t even know what it is.
Klimm also pointed out that Madison’s well-documented traffic problems will cost as much as $50 million to solve.
“Why would we support a development proposal that’s going to exacerbate the situation,” Klimm asked.
Klimm said that a similar mega-development was approved during his tenure in Effingham County, and has resulted in excessive growth and traffic issues that have residents there in an uproar.
Councilman Ed Latham was the only council member willing to voice support for the development. Latham argued that traffic issues are largely beyond the control of the city government since five major roads travel through Madison, including U.S. 441 and Interstate 20.
The audience tried to shout down Latham when he suggested taxes might increase without industrial development.
“Agriculture won’t pay the bills, residential won’t pay the bills,” Latham said. “If we vote this down, taxes are going to go up.”
Councilwoman Carrie Peters-Reid said she didn’t have a clear idea if she favored the development or not.
“I don’t like the fact that we don’t know what we’re voting on,” Peters-Reid said.
Conrads said that a Planned Industrial Development proposal that is being prepared would answer all the questions asked by council members and residents attending the meeting.